


my head's in the game (but my heart's in the song)

by ten_miles_til_midnight



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 03:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ten_miles_til_midnight/pseuds/ten_miles_til_midnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I swear I'm not this stupid in my other classes," Taylor says, pulling his biology textbook out of his backpack.</p><p>"Hey no, I don't think you're stupid," Jordan assures him.  "Some people are good at science and some people are good at languages and some people are good at math."</p><p>"I'm not great at any of those things," Taylor admits.</p><p>"Well, that's only fair, since you're really good at hockey."</p><p>"I have a good linemate," Taylor tells him loyally and they share a grin before Jordan sketches out the oxygen cycle on a blank page in Taylor's notebook.</p>
            </blockquote>





	my head's in the game (but my heart's in the song)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for popfly and wordgasmic’s [Extracurricular high school AU fest](http://hs-hockey.livejournal.com/). Title is from “Get'cha Head In the Game” from _High School Musical_ because I wasn’t about to write a high school AU and NOT use _High School Musical_ lyrics for the title.
> 
> Beta’d by the incomparable accidentallymelted, who is the only reason this is all in the same tense. Any remaining mistakes are all mine.

Taylor has watched the draft every year since he was eleven, but he’s particularly excited this year. "It's different," he tells his father, sitting on the couch in his parents’ living room. It’s still strange to be back at his parents’ house in Calgary instead of Regina. "This year, I actually know some of the guys being drafted."

"How many of the Pats are in the draft this year?"

"Five, I think."

"And how many of them have a chance of actually being drafted?"

Taylor shrugs. "Not sure. Tubes and Ebs for sure - they're suppose to go first round - but I don't know about the others. Maybe Matty."

"It'll be your turn in two years."

Taylor grins, wide and confident. "And I'm going to go higher than Tubes or Ebs."

"Maybe, if you keep practicing," his dad chirps, and easily dodges the pillow Taylor throws at him before settling down to watch the draft. Taylor cheers out loud when Tubes goes eleventh and pulls the Kings’ black and silver jersey over his head, and then again when the Oilers draft Ebs. He sends them both congratulatory texts as the Red Wings select Thomas McCollum and his dad switches the channel to golf, and then sends an extra text to Jordan. _you look dumb in orange and blue_

Much later, Taylor gets a text back from Jordan. _Im going 2 laugh when the Oiler draft u too, cowtown boy_

_Not a chance. Im going way high than 22._

"He's going to be insufferable," Taylor tells his parents over dinner that night. "First round to his childhood team. There’ll be no dealing with him now."

"He must be so proud," his mother said, who has had a soft spot for Ebs since she met him when they dropped Taylor off with his billet family in Regina last fall and Ebs had promised to look out for him, one Calgary boy to another.

Taylor rolls his eyes, but after dinner, he sends Jordan another text. _my parents say congrats. we’ll miss ur gap-toothed weak chirps nxt year._

_ill probably b back nxt year. another year 2 learn from my glorious chirps._

Taylor knows Jordan’s right - he probably won’t make the Oilers next year - and while he doesn’t want Jordan not to make the NHL, he’s glad he gets another year of playing with him. They don’t hang out much, but they played on the same line for the second half of last year, and they had been great together.

***

Taylor hates biology. He thinks a lot of high school is stupid; he's going to be a professional hockey player, why does he need to know how to find the area of a pyramid or what the barometer in _Surfacing_ symbolizes? He understands energy just fine from a nutritional point of view - eat chicken and pasta, have energy to play hockey - so why does it matter if he understands it at a molecular level? He doesn't, for the record, no matter how long he stares the diagram of ATP in his biology textbook. High school's dumb.

Of course, Jordan notices Taylor struggling to do his biology worksheet on the bus during their first road trip.

"Do you have Mr. Graves?” he asks, leaning over the seat on front of Taylor’s. “I loved his class!"

Taylor makes a face. "Love might be too strong of a word for me," he admits. "Did you ever understand how ATP worked?

Taylor had joined in the team chirping when Jordan had won the Doc Seaman Trophy last year (heh, Semen Trophy, what? he is a teenage boy), but if that means Jordan can actually explain the energy cycle well enough for Taylor to pass his biology quiz and avoid a disappointed phone call from his mother and concerned looks from his billet family, he is more than willing to ask for help.

"Sure, I think I remember it," Jordan says, and steals Taylor's textbook for a quick review before making Weal switch seats with him and spending the rest of the ride to Moose Jaw explaining how the energy cycle works until Taylor actually (sorta) understands it.

When Taylor gets back his quiz, a fat, red B- circled in the top right corner, he takes it to practice and shows it to Jordan before changing.

Jordan gives him a high five. "Let me know if you have any other questions. I did pretty well in biology."

"Do you mean that?" Taylor asks. "Because this is definitely the highest grade I've gotten all year."

"Any time. Gotta make sure our top scorer doesn't flunk out of school," Jordan says, but he's grinning and Taylor doesn't feel like he's being mocked for being too dumb to figure out high school biology.

***

The next unit is on photosynthesis, and Taylor leaves class even more confused than when he went in.

"I read the chapter last night and I thought it sorta made sense,” he tells Jordan when they sit down at a table in the library after practice the next day, "but then Mr. Graves started talking about chloroplasts and carbon fixation and drew all these equations on the board and now the only thing I'm sure about is that plants do it. Probably."

Jordan grins at Taylor, wide and gap-toothed, and Taylor's stomach feels funny. He wipes his sweaty hands on his pants leg and pulls his biology textbook and notebook out of his backpack. "I swear I'm not this stupid in my other classes."

"Hey, no, I don't think you're stupid. Some people are good at science and some people are good at languages and some people are good at math."

"I'm not great at any of those things," Taylor admits.

"Well, that's only fair, since you're really good at hockey."

"I have a good linemate," Taylor tells him loyally and they share a grin before Jordan sketches out the oxygen cycle on a blank page in Taylor's notebook.

By the time Taylor can give a basic explanation of photosynthesis, it's dark outside and both their stomachs are rumbling. "Do you want to stop at Ellison's Diner and get a burger before I drop you off at your billet family’s?" Jordan asks, pulling out his keys.

Taylor nods. "Yeah, burgers would be great." 

Taylor half expects dinner to be awkward. Jordan has never been anything but helpful and friendly friendly and helpful to him, especially once they started playing on the same line, but he is also two years older than Taylor. Taylor had mostly hung out with the other rookies last year, and he and Jordan have never hung out beyond road trips and team bonding events. Dinner is great, however. They promise not to tell the trainers about the chocolate milkshakes they both order to go with their burgers and shared plate of fries, and they talk about the Swift Current Broncos' power play and how poorly the Oilers season is going until Taylor's billet mom calls him to ask where he is.

"Thanks for everything, Ebs," Taylor says when Jordan drops him off outside the house.

"It was fun," Jordan assures him. "Do you want some help reviewing this unit before your test?"

Now isn’t the time for pride, Taylor tells himself. "Yes, please," he admits.

"We’ll go to the library after practice on Saturday," Jordan promises and Taylor walks across the frosty lawn to the front door feeling surprisingly cheerful about having just agreed to spend his Saturday afternoon in the library.

***

Jordan brings Maltesers to the library on Saturday and they split a bag under the table while Jordan makes Taylor study the energy cycle until he actually understands it, so it’s actually a pretty decent afternoon. Plus, they end up at Ellison's Diner again for an early dinner.

"I watched the draft," Taylor tells Jordan after they order.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, it was pretty cool to see my teammates get drafted."

"It was pretty cool to get drafted."

"Too bad you didn't actually make the team," Taylor chirps and earns a kick in the ankles for his troubles.

"And I suppose you'll make the team immediately?"

"Of course, I'm going to go first overall. Maybe the Oilers will be so bad by then that we'll end up on the team together." 

Jordan balls up a napkin and throws it at Taylor's face. “No offence, but I hope we don’t end up so bad that we get a first overall pick,” Jordan tells him, and Taylor gets a warm tingling in his belly when he realizes that Jordan didn’t question that he would go first overall. 

"So, um, what was rookie camp like?" Taylor asks, hoping that he isn’t blushing, or at least that Jordan doesn’t guess why he’s blushing.

Jordan grins widely and Taylor's stomach feels tight. He hopes their food shows up soon; he's clearly hungry. "Amazing! It was amazing. Even though I didn’t make the team, just going was awesome."

Jordan rambles about rookie camp and training camp all through dinner and then invites Taylor back to his grandparents' house to watch that week's episode of _The Office_. They don't have practice the next day, so Taylor calls his billet mom to let her know he's hanging out with a teammate and will be home late.

Jordan lives with his grandparents and has the entire basement to himself, with a separate bedroom and a living room with a couch and a TV and a mini fridge in the corner.

"Sweeeeet," Taylor says when Jordan leads him downstairs after stopping in the kitchen to say hi to his grandmother.

"When I was still in high school, I had to sleep upstairs, but now that I've graduated, they let me have the basement." Jordan grabs a container of hummus and carrots from the fridge and they settle down to catch up on all the TV they’d missed during the week's road trip. They ended up slumped on the couch hours later, leaning into each other and yawning.

"I don't want to move," Taylor whines, slouching down even further into the couch.

"I could drive you back to your billet family's, or you could just crash on the couch," Jordan says. "My grandma makes a really awesome breakfast.”

“Yeah?”

“Bacon and eggs with home fries.”

"Couch it is," Taylor decides. "You're pretty short, do you think I could fit into a pair of your sweats?"

Jordan answers by grabbing a pair of sweats from his bedroom and throwing them at Taylor's head. "I'm not that short."

"You kinda are, Ebby."

***

Jordan is right; his grandmother does make an awesome breakfast, and is nonplussed by the appearance of an extra teenager. Taylor goes home after breakfast, but texts Jordan to let him know that he's actually studying instead of playing Halo with his billet brother, and then keeps texting him all weekend.

On their next road trip to play the Wheat Kings, Taylor slides into the seat next to Jordan before Tubes gets on the bus, and when Tubes complains Jordan slings an arm around Taylor and says, "Sorry, important linemate bonding. No D-men invited."

They spend the bus ride to Brandon playing Grand Theft Auto on Taylor’s PSP, and Tubes gives them the stink eye.

"You and the rookie are awful friendly," he overhears Tubes tell Jordan as they split up to go to their hotel rooms.

"Hallsy isn't a rookie anymore," Jordan says, calm as ever. "And he's cool."

Taylor grins into his scarf.

***

Jordan invites him over on Friday night and hands him a beer when he gets there.

"I have a lot of cousins in town," Jordan says, answering Taylor's raised eyebrow. "And my grandparents look the other way, since technically I'm old enough to drink in Alberta."

Jordan insists on watching the Oilers game - they lose and Jordan looks so upset Taylor doesn't even have the heart to chirp him about it - and they split half a two-four and play NHL '08 until their eyes are tired and it's late enough that they're going to regret staying up at practice tomorrow. Taylor had remembered to bring an extra pair of sweats to sleep in this time, but when Jordan tosses him an old T-shirt from the Canadian Games, Taylor pulls it over his head without question.

After practice the next day, Justin offers to give Taylor a ride home. "I didn't see you at Mikey's party last night. I thought you were going."

Taylor had been planning on going, but he’d completely forgotten about the party when Jordan asked if he wanted to come over. "Oh right, that. I guess I forgot about it."

Justin boggles at him. "That party was all anyone's talked about last week. Mandy Trostle specifically asked you if you were going, and you _forgot_ about it."

Taylor shrugs. Mandy was hot, with long blonde hair and a pretty impressive rack, but when Jordan had suggested watching hockey and playing video games, she had been the last thing on his mind. Even now that he remembered, he couldn’t bring himself to really care that he missed the chance to possible hook up with her. "Ebs asked if I wanted to hang out and play video games. The party must have slipped my mind."

"You skipped Mikey's party to hang out with Ebs?"

"Hey, Ebby's cool," Taylor defends, feeling irrationally protective of Jordan.

Justin holds his hands up. "Ebs is great, I’m not arguing about that. I just can't believe you'd rather hang out on his couch and watch hockey instead of getting a hand on Mandy Trostle's boobs."

"She's kinda a tease," Taylor says. "There was no guarantee of any hand-on-boob action, and at least I didn't get bag skated while hung over."

"If Ebs starts making you serious and responsible, I'm staging an intervention."

"Ebby isn't serious and responsible," Taylor argues, and Justin gives him a dry look. "Well, okay, maybe he's a little responsible," Taylor amends, remembering how Jordan made him spend a Saturday studying, "but you say that like it's a bad thing. He's still _fun_."

"Hey, I'm not insulting your boy," Justin tells Taylor. "Put your shirt back on. Just questioning your priorities."

***

Mandy Trostle pouts when she sees him in French class on Monday, and demands that he sit with her at lunch to make up missing the party. Mandy is funny enough, and at least some of his teammates are also at the table, but Taylor wishes that Jordan was still in high school. Lunch would probably be more fun if he was there. 

***

They leave for a grueling week and a half long road trip to Alberta and BC on Tuesday morning. Jordan stays his seatmate for the trip, which is great because Jordan actually makes sure he spends at least part of the time studying and Taylor isn't going to have to spend his entire weekend frantically trying to catch up on homework before school on Monday. Tubes keeps giving them weird looks, but Taylor's pretty sure he's just jealous because Jordan lets Taylor nap on his shoulder and he makes a great pillow. Tubes is stuck sitting next to Travers and he flails in his sleep.

Taylor is trying to finish his French essay on the drive back to Regina Friday morning - Jordan's French is as terrible as Taylor's, so he's been no help and Taylor kept putting off the assignment - when Jordan nudges him. "Do you have any plans for tonight?" he asks softly.

Taylor shakes his head. "Sleeping, probably."

"Weren't Mitch and Wealer talking about some party tonight?"

Taylor shrugs. "Probably, but I wasn't really planning on going." Mandy's parents were out of town this weekend and her older brother had offered to buy her booze, but Taylor didn't want to go. Mandy was getting a little too clingy and she didn't know anything about hockey and her laugh was annoying. Taylor didn't want to deal with her after being gone for a week and a half, the possibility of hand-on-boob action notwithstanding.

"Wanna hang out at my place instead?" Jordan asks. "I have _The Office_ and _Family Guy_ and all the hockey games we missed Tivo’d."

"Sure," Taylor tells him. He’d been looking forward to actually sleeping in his own bed for once, but Jordan’s couch was pretty comfortable, and Jordan would be there. "Just please don't make me watch another Oilers game."

Jordan makes a face at him. "Fine, fine, I'll save the Oilers for later. We could watch the Flames-Canucks game." Jordan hates both the Flames and the Canucks, but he knows how much Taylor loves the Flames. 

Taylor duck his head and grins, a warm, fizzing feeling in his stomach. " _Family Guy_ and the Flames. It’s a plan."

Justin offers to give him a ride to Mandy’s party that night, but Taylor waves him off. "I'm not going."

"Seriously? Mandy Trostle asked you _personally_ to come to her party. I think that's a pretty good guarantee of hand-on-boob action."

"I'm tired," Taylor lies.

Justin side eyes him. "Are you hanging out with Ebs again?"

Taylor shrugs. "We were maybe going to watch the Flames-Canucks game tonight."

"Look, Hallsy. Ebs is great, I'm not saying he isn't," Justin holds up his hands placatingly, "but would you really rather spend the evening on his couch instead of getting into Mandy's bra?"

Taylor shrugs again. He's been avoiding thinking about that too closely. "We've been gone for ages and my shoulder still hurts from the Red Deer game and I just want a quiet night. I already told Mandy I wasn't going to make it."

Justin rolls his eyes. "You're the worst hockey superstar ever. Is it cool if I make a play for Mandy?"

"Go for it, Slobo," Taylor tells him. "I'm not really that interested in her."

"You’re a beauty. Have fun on your date with Ebs."

"It's not a date," Taylor grumbles as he gets out of the car. "We're just hanging out."

***

Taylor tries to be a good son and call home at least once a week. He usually forgets, but luckily his mom's pretty used to him and make sure to call him when she knows he should be free. She also calls his billet mom a couple of times a week, which Taylor thinks is a little like spying on him, but when he tells her that, she just asks if he's doing anything he's afraid of her finding out about.

"Mooom, of course not," he lies. "It's the principle of the thing."

"You're still my son, even though you don't live at home most of the year," she tells him, serenely. "It's my job to invade your privacy and embarrass you." 

She usually calls on a weekday evening when he doesn't have a game, but lately Taylor's been spending more and more time hanging out in Jordan's basement in the evenings, and she keeps calling while he’s over there.

"Susan said you'd been spending a lot of time with Jordan," his mom says when she calls on a Wednesday night. Taylor's sitting on the floor next to the couch, his algebra notes spread out around him.

"I'm doing my homework, I swear," Taylor protests. "Ebby’s a huge non who won't let us watch TV until he thinks I've studied enough." On the couch, Jordan looks up from his PSP and laughs at Taylor. 

Taylor's mom also laughs at his pain, because everyone in his life is horrible. "I've also noticed your grades have improved in the past month."

"See, Jordan isn't a bad influence."

"Of course not, dear. I think it's good that you're spending time with an older teammate. He can be a steadying influence."

"Mooooom," Taylor grumbles.

His mom laughs at him again and lets him go, but she calls back that weekend when Taylor's actually at his billet family's. She tells him about his dad's new golf clubs and the garage sale the missions committee at church is holding, which Taylor doesn't really care about, but he lies back on his bed and lets his mom's voice wash over him and it's almost like he's back home in Calgary, lying on the couch in the living room and listening to his parents talk in the kitchen while his mom fixes dinner, which is probably why his mom is able to startle an honest answer out of him when she asks if he's dating anyone.

"Not really," he admits. "There's this girl at school who keeps asking me to parties, but I dunno, I guess she's hot and nice and all, but I'm just not really interested." His mom makes a noncommittal noise and Taylor continues. "Like, we hang out at school sometimes and that's nice and all, but then she asks if I want to meet up at a party on the weekend or go to the movies with her friends, and she doesn’t know anything about hockey and her laugh is kinda annoying and she keeps grabbing onto my arm, and it’s not worth it."

“Taylor, honey, are you interested in any girls?” his mom asks gently. Taylor doesn’t say anything. He’s been avoiding thinking about that. “Honey, it doesn’t matter who you’re interested in. Your dad and I love you no matter what.”

“I dunno. I don’t _dislike_ girls, like, as people. It’s just, everyone keeps telling me I should go out with Mandy because she’ll probably let me touch her boob, and I just… I just don’t care. I’d rather hang out with Ebby.” He pauses. “Does that mean I’m gay?”

“Maybe,” his mom says. “Or maybe you just don’t like this particular girl. Either way, it’s okay. And either way, you dad and I love you and support you.”

“Thanks,” Taylor says, his voice a little shaky, and he suddenly wishes he was home in Calgary and his mom could give him a hug.

"Of course, baby. You seem to really like Jordan," she says carefully, and Taylor smiles reflexively.

"Ebby's the best," he tells his mom. "We never really talked outside of hockey last year, but we hang out all the time this year and it's like I've known him forever."

"What do you do at his house?"

"Nothing much. We watch a lot of TV and play video games. He keeps making me studying too, which is a total non-beauty move."

"You really like him, eh?"

"Yeah, he's pretty awesome," Taylor agrees and his mom changes the subject and starts telling him about his cousin who’s thinking about enlisting in the Navy.

*** 

The big social event of December is the Snowflake Dance at the beginning of the month. Taylor isn’t really interested, but everyone else seems really excited, and the school even scheduled it around the Pats’ games so that the players could go. It's all the high schoolers on the team can talk about, and even some of the older players join the conversation. The players with girlfriends are talking about pooling their funds and renting a limo, and the single players spend the weeks before the dance trying to get a date.

Taylor thinks the whole thing is pretty dumb, especially since it's a rare Friday night they have free, which usually means hanging out in Jordan's basement. They leave for a two week road trip on Sunday night, and the last thing he wants to do with his free weekend is spend it at a school dance, since there's no beer and he can't dance and he doesn't want to ask Mandy to go with him, no matter how many hints she _and_ his teammates drop.

Maybe if Jordan were still in high school and would be there it would be worth it, but spending a Friday night without him doesn’t sound like much fun.

The closer the dance looms, the more people chirp Taylor for still not having a date.

"You know Mandy only agreed to go with Jeff Peters conditionally," Justin tells him the week of the dance. "You could still ask her to go with you."

"That seems like a dick move to pull on Peters."

Justin shrugs. "That’s his fault for asking Mandy out when it was obvious she was still holding out for you."

"Look," Taylor snaps, annoyed. "I'm not asking Mandy Trostle to the fucking dance. I’m not asking _anyone_ to the fucking dance. I don't even want to go to the stupid thing." Justin backs off after that, but Taylor's still angry after practice.

Taylor takes him time changing, but Jordan’s still around when he leaves the locker room. He bumps Taylor’s shoulder with his own and all the frustration that had been simmering just under his skin all practice melts away. 

"Have you managed to find a girl blind enough to agree to go with you to the dance?" Jordan asks. He sounds cheerful enough, but his mouth is pinched at the corners and his hands are shoved deep in his pockets. He doesn't actually look happy. 

It was probably strange to hang out with high schoolers after you've graduated, Taylor thinks. He can't imagine missing tests or homework, but maybe Jordan misses school dances and going to football games. He’s from Regina, Taylor remembers, and probably grew up hearing all about this stupid tradition from his sisters and cousins. Jordan had probably looked forwards to taking a girl to the Snowflake Dance when he was in high school.

"No date," he tells Jordan. "I'm probably not even going to go. The whole thing sounds dumb. I'd rather just hang out at your house like normal."

Some of the tension eases out of Jordan’s shoulders. “I know I’m great and all, but the Snowflake Dance is a treasured high school memory. Are you sure you want to miss it just to spend another night on my couch?"

"High school nightmare, more like it. I try to avoid being that close to Mully when he thinks it's a good idea to dance. The whole thing just sounds dumb."

"You could just go for a little bit,” Jordan suggests. “Mock Mully, hang out with the guys, and then come back over to my place and tell me how horrible it was” 

“Yeah?”

Jordan grins at him. “Of course. You’re always welcome on my couch.” 

***

Taylor goes to the Snowflake Dance with the other guys on the team without a date, and Jordan’s right. It’s actually pretty fun. Not treasured memory fun, but he get a video of Mully trying to dance to Poker Face and accidentally hitting his date in the face, which was more than worth the price of the ticket. Also, Wealer smuggles in an honest-to-God flask and shares, so Taylor ends up pleasantly buzzed, which goes a long way towards making up for the fact that he's at the Snowflake Dance wearing his best game day suit and not sprawled out on Jordan's couch in a pair of sweats.

Mandy tries to make him dance with her, which he refuses (he doesn't hide behind Slobo, no matter what Wealer says), but he lets his teammates drag him onto the dance floor when the DJ plays Crowd Chant. He escapes after a few hours and catches a cab to Jordan's place, all warm and glowing with high school spirit and Wealer’s surprisingly good whiskey. He lets himself into the Eberle's house, waves to Jordan's grandparents and makes his way to the basement, where Jordan is sprawled on the couch, watching a hockey game. He's wearing old sweats and a new Oilers sweatshirt, with a protein shake resting on his stomach. He looks a million times better than anyone at that stupid dance.

 _Oh_ , Taylor thinks, frozen in the door. _Oh fuck._

He must make a sound, because Jordan looks up from the TV and grins, wide and happy, his eyes crinkling in the corners, and Taylor's stomach clenches almost painfully. It probably because of hunger, Taylor thinks. "Hey," Jordan says. "How was the dance?"

Taylor makes himself walk into the room and sit down next to Jordan on the couch, determined to act normal. "It was okay. Wealer brought a flask, so at least I didn't have to watch Mully’s whack someone in the face while dancing sober."

Jordan looks delighted. "Tell me you have videos."

"Like I would fail you," Taylor scoffs, pulling his phone out of his pocket. They laugh at Mully and Jordan unmutes the game and offers Taylor a beer and a protein shake, both of which he accepts. Taylor's three beers in and still feeling a little floaty when Jordan asks, "So, did you have fun at the dance?" he eyes fixed on the TV.

Taylor's just drunk enough to shrug, even though Jordan can't see him, and say, "I’d rather have gone with you."

Jordan goes silent and Taylor rewinds what he just said in his head, and oh shit. He hadn't meant to tell Jordan about his stupid crush, but that was pretty obvious. They stare at each other in awkward silence before Taylor wipes his hands on his dress pants and says nervously, "I should probably go. I'm kinda drunk and not making any sense, you know me, and I should go...." He trails off when Jordan grabs his wrist.

"You’d rather have gone _with_ me?" Jordan asks, stressing _with_ , and yep, Taylor's busted. _In for a penny, in for a pound_ , Taylor thinks, and if everything is already ruined and awkward between them, Taylor might as well give it a try.

"I mean, I'm a terrible dancer, but if you'd wanted to, I would have tried," he says, heart in his throat and not quite able to meet Jordan's eyes.

Jordan starts gently stroking Taylor's wrist with his thumb and grins at him, all crinkly eyed. Taylor swallows hard. They're standing in Jordan's grandparent's basement, practically holding hands and Jordan's looking at Taylor like he's the best thing in the world and Taylor’s starting to hope that maybe everything isn't ruined.

“I don’t dance either, but it would have been fun to go with you,” Jordan says. 

“With me or _with me_?” Taylor asks, part to be a jackass and part because he really wants to hear Jordan say it. 

Jordan just rolls his eyes, all fond and affectionate, and says, "Come here, you non," and tugs Taylor forwards and kisses him, soft and gentle, hands bracketing Taylor's hips. Taylor kisses back around his grin, hand tangled in Jordan's hair, and thinks that this is better than any stupid high school dance could ever hope to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place during the fall of the 2008-2009 season. Jordan is 18, and Taylor turns 17 during the story (although I clearly forgot about that while writing this since it’s not mentioned). “Crowd Chant,” in addition to being the goal song for the Wild and the Islanders, is the goal song for the Regina Pats according to the one YouTube clip that turned up in my Google search.
> 
> For anyone else that hates it when fics reference players (especially by nicknames) as tertiary characters like I should know who they are and doesn’t want to spent half an hour on the Regina Pats Hockeydb site, here’s a list of Pats players mentioned:  
> Colten Teubert (Tubes)  
> Matt Delahey (Matty)  
> Jordan Weal (Wealer)  
> Justin Slobozian (Slobo)  
> Travis Sparrow (Travers)  
> Garrett Mitchell (Mitch)  
> Kyle Mulder (Mully)


End file.
